A Sermon for Easter, 2012

Mark 16:1-8

Alleluia Christ is risen!

I don’t think I’ve ever begun an Easter sermon in any other way.  Those words mean Easter.  They are Easter.  But as I hear them this year, I wonder what we are supposed to think of such a claim.  Christ is risen.  We come to this morning from all kinds of lives, with a variety of experiences and levels of engagement with the Christian faith.  For some, the words, Christ is risen, may speak of the event that changes everything, a concrete moment in time when the rules were turned upside down.  For others the words may be just another outrageous claim by a church who asks its members to believe the wildly impossible as a condition of belonging.  If you are wondering about what kind of claim this risen Christ idea might be able to have on your life you are in good company.  This is a good place for such questions.

I know also that I’ve never approached an Easter sermon without wondering how best to welcome all the people who don’t get here that often.  If you haven’t been to church in a while I am delighted that you decided to come this morning.  Really.  As far as I’m concerned, this is your service.  It’s easy for the regulars to be here, but some of you have had to do some traveling to be present today.   Maybe you’ve had to ignore some of your serious questions about the church.  Maybe you decided to test the waters of Church again after a long hiatus and were afraid the preacher might draw attention to those who don’t come very often.  Oops.  Sorry.  Many are here, I’m sure, out of pure love for someone who asked you to come with them this morning.  What a nobel and worthwhile calling.  I am so glad you’re here.  

And for all of you who are here throughout the year and those who are visiting friends and relatives.  Welcome to this glorious morning of music and color and celebration.  I look forward to this day all year long, to the hymns, the crowd, the children the Easter outfits the flowers.  All of it.  But again.  What is it about?  What do those words, Christ is risen mean.  Given half a chance, I’d love to try and explain it to you, but this year I have been warned off that task by a fellow named Andrew Sullivan whose article you may have seen in the most recent issue of Newsweek.  

The line on the cover said, Forget the Church, Follow Jesus.  Turning to the article, I read, “Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests, and get-rich-quick evangelists.  Ignore them.”   Now I can go off on get rich quick evangelists and politicians with the best of them, and because of that, I sure didn’t appreciate seeing myself lumped in with them like that.  Evangelists, politicians and priests.  Humph.

But reading on, the point became clear enough.  Part of the problem with Jesus is that everyone has their take on what he means and what he is about, what people who follow him should be about, how they should act and what they should believe.  It is so easy to take possession of the newly risen Jesus, bending him to our own limited views and purposes.  Even when those purposes seem so right…..maybe even when they are right.  The problem begins says Sullivan when we start accusing others of not following Jesus, or not understanding what Jesus is about, or claiming that those who don’t agree with us are enemies of Jesus.  You can hear all of that and more in the political headlines this week.  And you can hear people in my business talking pretty easily about what jesus is calling us all to do.  I have my lists,  maybe you have yours.  Sullivan says that kind of infighting about the message is a big part of why people give up on the Church.  I say it again,  if you happen to be here today because you’re willing to give the Church another chance, God bless you. I only hope I don’t screw this day up for you.  Of course I do have some help in the form of a gospel reading we don’t usually haul out for the main service on Easter morning.  

You may not be familiar with the resurrection story in Mark’s gospel.  We just heard the whole thing.  At least what we heard is considered the oldest version of Mark’s Easter story.  You may know that Mark’s gospel was written at least twenty years before the other three gospels.  The other writers had Mark’s gospel and some other material, but they owe the heart of their stories to Mark.  Those other gospels are much longer than Mark’s because the others added not only stories, but theology and explanation to their gospels.  John and Luke, for instance, have Jesus appearing to the disciples several times after his death.  John and Luke want sightings of Jesus to take place in the context of a meal.  John has Jesus cooking on a beach.  Luke has him break bread at an inn at Emmaus.  Matthew not only tells the stories, he preaches them as well.  When Matthew has Jesus tell a parable, he then has Jesus proceed to tell us what the parable means.  Matthew, Luke and John tell the resurrection story in light of what the Church is already coming to understand and believe about Jesus.  You can feel the interpretation narrowing as the meaning of “Christ is risen” is defined.  

Mark, on the other hand, tells a very open ended story.  He is not here, says Mark’s angel.   Go into the city and he will meet you there.  No word about what will happen.  No expectation about what comes next.  Jesus will be there and together you will do what comes next.  Mark’s Easter revelation is simply that Jesus isn’t where you expected him to be.   He has gone ahead of you and will meet you in the new place.  

Whether you are a regular at these services or are here for the first time today.  Chances are you have some pretty fixed ideas about Jesus and the Church and God.  I know I do.  

What I’m hearing today is that even the best of those beliefs, even my most cherished ideas about what it means to follow Jesus may need to be held lightly.  Mark’s Easter message is challenging in its announcement that the disciples’ new life with Jesus lies out there, in a future yet unseen.  This day is not about reinforcing ideas and convictions as much as it is about freeing us to discover what may still be.   Jesus isn’t where you left him, says the angel.  He’s waiting for you just ahead, down the road a bit.  

Maybe the message of this Easter day has to do with meeting Jesus in some new place in our lives.  If Jesus has been companion and comforter for you, maybe the risen Christ will be teacher, challenger of the status quo, prophet.  If Jesus is champion of the poor, maybe the Jesus you meet in town can help you wrestle with what it means for God to love the rich as well.  Maybe if Jesus has become a sign of God’s, or maybe better, the Church’s judgement, then the risen Christ might be the one who convinces you finally that you…..that you are worth whatever effort it takes for the two of you to walk together in the new life.  To enter that new life with Jesus, whatever shape it might take, we first have to hear that he isn’t where we left him.  He’s moved on and wants us to join him.   

Mark’s gospel--the oldest version anyway-- doesn’t give us any examples of what it means to experience the risen Christ.  No encounter stories.  No surprised disciples.  In this sparse telling of the tale we don’t read about how others met Jesus.  We are instead encouraged to go out and meet him for ourselves.  Our celebration today really isn’t about today, it’s about tomorrow and the next day and the next.  And it is about discovering anew the depth and variety of meaning in the cry that has echoed in the world for all these centuries, the cry that announces the beginning of another new chapter in our story, the cry that points us toward the new life we have only to go out and meet.  Alleluia, Christ is risen!     JB